My jurisdiction is: California
For a couple of months starting July 2008 I had been receiving text messages from 654654. I figured that it was just spam, but when I reviewed my cell phone bill for AT&T I noticed a $9.99 charge in the credits/adjustments/other charges section for; description: Predicto 654654#7924, Type: blank, Merchant Name: OpenMarket, Merchant Contact: 1-800-331-0500. I didn't even realize that I could be charged by third party merchants through my AT&T cell phone bill. Furthermore, I never authorized services from this company. There are no text messages or phone calls on my phone bill to this company, only from. Apparently to sign up for their service you submit your cell phone number on their website, they send you a text with a pin, and you enter the pin on their website to confirm enrollment. It seems like they could very easily authorize my enrollment without my consent or knowledge. Is this legal? I noticed other complaints about this company at this website (cannot post websites yet) . Also I noticed that this particular person started noticing the charges in July of 2008 as well. Apparently those people received refunds from their service provider Verizon. I have not contacted AT&T yet, but plan to do so during their business hours tomorrow and can post further info after that. I don't expect too much considering the charges have happened since July and this company is not affiliated with AT&T, an unfortunate lapse of oversight on my part, but to my defense I did not expect to be charged by third parties through AT&T. I don't expect a refund, but I also don't think what this company is doing is legal and I don't want to see other people get duped so they can make a profit.
For a couple of months starting July 2008 I had been receiving text messages from 654654. I figured that it was just spam, but when I reviewed my cell phone bill for AT&T I noticed a $9.99 charge in the credits/adjustments/other charges section for; description: Predicto 654654#7924, Type: blank, Merchant Name: OpenMarket, Merchant Contact: 1-800-331-0500. I didn't even realize that I could be charged by third party merchants through my AT&T cell phone bill. Furthermore, I never authorized services from this company. There are no text messages or phone calls on my phone bill to this company, only from. Apparently to sign up for their service you submit your cell phone number on their website, they send you a text with a pin, and you enter the pin on their website to confirm enrollment. It seems like they could very easily authorize my enrollment without my consent or knowledge. Is this legal? I noticed other complaints about this company at this website (cannot post websites yet) . Also I noticed that this particular person started noticing the charges in July of 2008 as well. Apparently those people received refunds from their service provider Verizon. I have not contacted AT&T yet, but plan to do so during their business hours tomorrow and can post further info after that. I don't expect too much considering the charges have happened since July and this company is not affiliated with AT&T, an unfortunate lapse of oversight on my part, but to my defense I did not expect to be charged by third parties through AT&T. I don't expect a refund, but I also don't think what this company is doing is legal and I don't want to see other people get duped so they can make a profit.
